parvenu

American  

[pahr-vuh-noo, -nyoo, pahr-vuh-noo, -nyoo] / ˈpɑr vəˌnu, -ˌnyu, ˌpɑr vəˈnu, -ˈnyu /

noun

1. a person who has recently or suddenly acquired wealth, importance, position, or the like, but has not yet developed the conventionally appropriate manners, dress, surroundings, etc.

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adjective

1. being or resembling a parvenu.

2. characteristic of a parvenu.

parvenu British  

/ ˈpɑːvəˌnjuː /

noun

1. a person, esp a man, who, having risen socially or economically, is considered to be an upstart or to lack the appropriate refinement for his or her new position

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adjective

1. of or characteristic of a parvenu

Other Word Forms

• parvenudom
  noun
• parvenuism
  noun

Etymology

Origin of parvenu

1795–1805; < French: upstart, noun use of past participle of parvenir to arrive, reach < Latin pervenīre, equivalent to per- per- + venīre to come

Explanation

A parvenu is an upstart, somebody who's suddenly rich but doesn't fit into his new social status. If you're a parvenu, people might also describe you as "nouveau-riche" or an "arriviste." Maybe it's not quite so insulting in French. The Beverly Hillbillies, a sitcom from the 1960s, featured the Clampetts, classic parvenus who strike oil in their backwoods swampland. They arrive at their mansion in Beverly Hills, dressed in overalls, in their pick-up truck, with their shabby furniture strapped on top. As parvenus, they don’t fit in — to say the least. Parvenu is from French, and it's the past participle of parvenir, "arrived."

Example Sentences

Chenoweth, who is as gleaming as a holiday ornament on Liberace’s Christmas tree, arrives at a canny balance of quixotic generosity and parvenu carelessness in her portrayal of a woman she refuses to lampoon.

From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 9, 2025

His mother, “born of samurai stock” and married to “a parvenu beneath herself,” succumbed to mental illness six months after Ryunosuke’s birth.

From New York Times • Oct. 12, 2018

In one scene, Trimalchio, a parvenu who serves dishes like a boiled calf wearing a helmet, decides that a mere party isn’t enough and holds a mock funeral for himself.

From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 30, 2016

In 1925, Gatsby’s pink suit marked him as an attention-seeking parvenu; today, you can buy a $996 replica from Brooks Brothers’ new “Gatsby Collection.”

From Slate • May 22, 2013

Eugene, for whom this rosary of parvenu platitudes becomes too long, murmurs: "Shall we not soon have paid sufficient thanks for the honor of being allied with Baron Lanzberg?"

From Felix Lanzberg's Expiation by Schubin, Ossip